John Ramsay was a painter and decorator living in Stirling when he was Conscripted in 1916. Active in the House Painters Trade Union, a committed Socialist and member of the local branch of the No-Conscription Fellowship, John held a longstanding opposition to war based on political grounds. For many Socialist members of Trade Unions, conscription meant a twofold assault on their rights - first as socialists being forced into fighting a war they believed was waged for profit, and secondly as trade union men who were opposed to forced labour, industrial or military.

John applied as a Conscientious Objector to military service on these political grounds to the Stirling Tribunal, most likely in April or May 1916. His application was not successful, and by July 1916, he had been sent to the army regardless. It is possible that John received no exemption whatsoever from his Tribunal hearing as he was taken under escort to the barracks of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Stirling Castle, there expected to join a combatant regiment and act as any other soldier would. John, holding to his conscientious objection to conscription, decided to resist, and was soon refusing orders as he was determined not to participate in the war.

Shortly after his arrival at Stirling Castle, John was brought before a court martial, and on the 11th of July he had been sentenced for disobedience and given 112 days hard labour, to be served in Perth prison. He was held in Perth for a month before a transfer to Edinburgh for a Central Tribunal hearing to decide his suitability for the Home Office Scheme (HoS). Many COs found that a perfunctory hearing granted them “Genuine” CO status, and a pass to the HoS, but John would have no such experience - judged a “Class B” or “Unconvincing” CO, he was temporarily sent to the Ballachulish work camp, before being recalled to prison. An “Unconvincing” CO was not necessarily one with a weak argument, or a man who did not have a legitimate and long-standing opposition to war, and the designation shows that a system of judging conscience can only ever be inconsistent and arbitrary.

Being returned to prison meant that John would now be trapped in a cycle of repeated sentences, release and rearrest, until the end of the war. Though his first sentence was interrupted by five months of the Home Office Scheme, it ended in March 1918 - and upon release he was then eligible for conscription, again sent to the army, court martialled and sent to prison! This grim and pointless cycle would result in John receiving three prison sentences during the war; the last beginning in January 1919. By April of 1919 he had been released. As a long-term CO he had served three sentences and two years in prison, and was released as a “two year man” in one of the first large waves of releases that preceded the official end of the war that he had resisted in June 1919.